Class wins for Bamber and McElrea at the Brickyard

Kiwi endurance drivers Earl Bamber (GTP) and Hunter McElrea (LMP2) (main photo) have both stood on the top of the podium after the latest IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The six-hour Battle on the Bricks saw Bamber and teammate Frederik Vesti lead 210 of 243 laps in the #31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. They won both the overall and GTP category in the six-hour contest, by 0.988 of a second over Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Cadillac fielded by Wayne Taylor Racing, with Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun in third place in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06.

**The #31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R team**

“We had really high hopes at the start of the season,” Bamber said. “We’ve had a lot of good cars, but things really haven’t gone our way. We’ve been working day in and day out to get this win, so it’s really nice to be back on the top step of the podium. We feel like we’ve got really good momentum and are laying a great foundation now.”

For the third straight year, TDS Racing won the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) portion of the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks. Co-drivers Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen have been a part of all three victories, and Michelin Endurance Cup third driver Hunter McElrea has been around for the last two.

In a race that saw a number of mistakes from their rivals, the TDS Racing trio had a relatively clean run in the No. 11 ORECA LMP2 07. And while they were officially credited with leading just 38 of the 241 laps that the LMP2 field completed, it wasn’t indicative of the team’s dominance.

“I’m just lucky, honestly, to be a part of such a good program,” commented Hunter. “Steven’s (Thomas) kind of proving he’s one of if not the best Bronzes going around right now. Mikkel’s (Jensen) obviously established enough.

“I’m pretty new to endurance racing still, so kind of riding off the coattails of them is not a bad job. They’ve won three times in a row here. I’ve obviously been two of the three, but I won here in Indy NXT in 2023 as well, so I’m jumping on the three in a row train.”

The next and final round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup is the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans, set for October 8-11 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.